Category Archive: Writing Musings

Here is the third entry in my continuing series of excerpts from my epic fantasy novel, ELDER’S WILL. For the first and second installments, click here and here. * Evening had set in, a gray sheen of fading light replacing the brilliant orange glow on my windowsill, when I heard the first sound. It was a series …

As I prepare to bite the bullet and brave the Black Friday crowds, I will use a handful of quotes to inspire me. One from entrepreneurship, another from writing, and a last from film. Eric Ries, entrepreneur and proponent of lean startups: “The hard part is to figure out the fewest possible features that could …

Here is the second entry in my continuing series of excerpts from my epic fantasy novel, ELDER’S WILL. I hope you enjoy it! * I had made one friend at the University, and Nick Larsen was it. Temper aside, he was brilliant. He earned acceptance to the University not because he cared, but …

I do not have any close family who served in the United States military. I have a handful of friends who are serving, or who have served, but that is the extent of my relationship with this important day. I do know how involved my friends have been during their service in the Army, Navy, …

This photo, to some extent, speaks for itself. It’s Scooby Doo on a pumpkin! But there’s more behind it. This is, by far, the most proud I’ve ever been of a pumpkin. How did it come out this way? October 29. Normally, we’re all gearing up for Halloween by decorating the house, getting the kids’ …

I’m beginning a new series of blog posts. Rather than my usual musings, instead I will post a short excerpt from the novel on every Wednesday from now until, well, until I run out of things to post, I guess. Hopefully this book will be published by then! Without further ado: Here is a scene …

Brief thoughts on the Boston Book Festival. It was a nice event, and a great service (it’s free), though in turn it was very crowded. In my opinion, only two of the four sessions that I attended would have been worth paying for: Alone Together, a session that explored the threat to “togetherness” from ubiquitous …

This article written by Molly Barton got me thinking. Her argument — crowdsourced feedback as a means to mainstream success — smells a lot like a mashup of beta testing and startup incubation to me. Ms. Barton suggests that old-fashioned campfire storytelling led to rapid innovation and improvement on storytelling as a whole. Can we not replicate that …

Summary: I challenge the theories presented by two respected agents this morning. First, authors should expect to feel the sting of rejection; we need to overcome that. Second, agents need to examine their place in the changing publishing marketplace: the days of cherry picking publish-ready clients may be ending. * This morning, two blog posts …